Siblings

Lovers

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"My father never trained me to be a lord. This was supposed to be Rodrik's sword! But I was trained to fight. And by the Gods, I will defend my father's house to the last breath. House Forrester will prevail this day!"

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Asher had always been a rebellious youth – brawling in taverns, sleeping with whores, and finding ways to raise his father’s ire. But his life took a dark turn when, at age seventeen, he fell in love with Gwyn Whitehill, the daughter of his father’s bitter rival. Bloodshed ensued and Lord Forrester faced a grim choice: go to war, or exile Asher across the Narrow Sea. He chose the latter. Asher remains in Essos to this day, living as a sellsword, trying not to think about the life he left.[1]

When Asher heard his brother Ethan was tormented by a miller's boy, Asher grabbed him by the neck and beat half of the boy's teeth out. While his father was angry, he only cared about Ethan's safety.[2]

At some point he met Beskha and the two of them became partners. Asher and Beskha traveled to Volantis during their adventures, were they soon became enemies with Tazal, a member of the Lost Legion.[3]

During their time journeying, they made it to Lys, where he and Beskha fought the Scourge, a brawler who fought with double axes, and defeated him.[4]

As House Forrester deteriorates with the death of its Lord and first heir at the Red Wedding, Elissa Forrester considers pardoning Asher due to his strong and decisive nature, and House Forrester needs more swords now more than ever. She wishes to sent her brother Malcolm Branfield to retrieve him. Elissa asks her Houses' new lord Ethan, her son, to consider allowing Malcolm to get Asher. In King's Landing Mira has a coin from Yunkai sent to her from Asher.[5]

Asher finally appears as a playable character in this episode. He is in Yunkai, three days after its liberation, in an abandoned tavern with his mercenary friend, Beskha, holding onto a captive - a former slave master they intend to sell. The Lost Legion arrive demanding the captive, led by Tazal who has a personal grudge against Asher and Beskha. Tazal eventually murders the captive and orders his men to kill Asher and Beskha, planning to blame them for the captive's death and claim the reward money for killing them. Asher and Beskha defeat Tazal's men. Asher's uncle, Malcolm Branfield, arrives saving Asher, and the trio flees the Legion.

Asher reunites with his uncle Malcolm after 4 years.

Malcolm explains he is in Yunkai following the deaths of Asher's father and brother (Malcolm does not know that Rodrik actually survived the Red Wedding) to take him back to Ironrath, also hoping to hire an army of mercenaries to fight for House Forrester against the Whitehills and - potentially - the Boltons. Asher and Beskha decide to call in a favor with an old acquaintance to secure a sellsword army in Meereen. Although Beskha admits to having unfinished business in Meereen she doesn't explain what it is and assures Asher it won't be a problem. Malcolm, Asher and Beskha dodge the Lost Legion again as they leave Yunkai.[6]

​​Asher, Beskha, and Malcolm continue their journey to Meereen and find themselves at the dead end of a canyon somewhere beyond Yunkai. Asher has the choice to defend both of them against each other until the Lost Legion appears and chases them into a cave. Tazal will also be mentioned. Beskha or Malcolm will judge Asher on whether or not he killed him. Asher will encounter Drogon and will have the option to defend Beskha (from Drogon) or Malcolm (from the Lost Legion) one of them will judge him for this and have injuries later on.

After escaping the cave, Asher and the others then arrive at Daenerys Targaryen's camp just outside Meereen where they encounter Croft in his tent who punches Asher and angrily threatens him for stealing from him but soon reveals it was all a joke after he threatens to cut off one of Asher's body parts. Asher then admits that he needs an army and has the option to give Croft gold he found near the cave (assuming the player picks it up) he will happily take the gold but will not change his mind until Asher reveals he encountered Drogon. Croft will then set up a meeting with Asher and Daenerys, who only appears briefly at the end but tells Asher that if he has news of Drogon he should "choose his words carefully".[7]

Asher, after entering Daenerys' tent, requests that he be given the Second Sons, however Daenerys is furious that Beskha, Malcolm and himself tried to harm Drogon but will eventually offer them a mission. Asher and Beskha must take Croft and go into Meereen to help liberate the city and uninstall the slave masters from its governing. Daenerys assures Asher that if he does his job right he will be rewarded but they must follow Croft's orders exactly or they will get nothing. She also orders Malcolm to remain behind, which he does. Asher agrees, however Beskha remains hostile about Meereen.

While wandering the camp, Asher catches Croft and Beskha arguing over orders and Beskha gets violent. After Croft storms out, Beskha gets angry at Asher repeatedly striking him although Asher has the option to fight back. After Beskha has calmed down she reveals she was a slave, which is why she has such sour feeling towards Meereen.

After some careful planning, Asher, Beskha, and Croft enter the city to liberate it, however after Beskha sees a slave beaten to death, she raids the home of her former master, Dezhor zo Raza. She kicks him to the streets where he begs for mercy but Croft tells her to spare him until the city is liberated. Asher has the option to kill Dezhor zo Raza himself, stop Beskha, or let her kill him, what ever option Asher chooses he will be judged for it later. While clearing out a large Meereenise encampments, Asher and Beskha try to stop some guards from lighting a beacon which will signal more guards. Asher climbs a Harpy statue and destroys the beacon along with the guard trying to light it. Asher, Beskha, and Croft then stand over the encampment and listen to the Liberation begin.[8]

​​Asher returns with Beskha and Croft back to the Targaryen girl, with hopes that he will get his sellswords, but is denied by Daenerys, the reason being she and Croft still need them. Still, she is very thankful and gives Asher and Beskha a huge amount of gold if they did not kill the master or Asher reveals that Beskha was a slave, much to Beskha's dismay, to look somewhere else for the sellswords. However Daenerys still wants something; Malcolm. She likes his service and wants him to stay with her for a mission. Malcolm stays because he hopes that if she reclaims the Iron Throne, she would be a powerful ally to Ironrath.

Asher goes with Beskha to a fighting pit where former slaves were brutally slaughtering their former masters and each other for entertainment purposes. Asher noticed that he could have a chance of convincing them to fight for his family. Amaya, the "Leader" of the pit fighters denied him, but offered that if he could kill the champion, Bloodsong, she and her "army" are his. After either stabbing or sparing Bloodsong, they will all join him. When Asher, and his new army, get back to his homeland, Westeros, he meets his brother Rodrik for the first time in four years. Knowing there would be an ambush for them, Rodrik and his men are ready to fight, along with Asher, Beskha and his killers.

Like expected, the Whitehills showed up and killed a lot of the killers and Rodrik's guards. While the fight is going on, a Whitehill soldier cuts down a plank and the Gate closes, leaving Rodrik and Asher alone with all Whitehills. When Gryff and his right hand man make an appearance, Asher and Rodrik try to open the gate, which won't be able to stay open for very long with only one of them holding it. Unfortunately, only one of them is able to escape. After a final argument, one of them decides to stay behind. If you choose Asher, he will have his last words to the almost crying Beskha, saying her new family are the Forresters now. He will fight while getting more and more injured, but be fatally hit in the chest by a crossbow. This leads the Whitehill men into grabbing Asher and stabbing him multiple times in the stomach. While in screaming pain, Gryff's right hand man punches Asher's eye out, and leaves him to die.[9]

Asher will order his men to stop down the road, and they stage an ambush for a group of Whitehill soldiers pursuing them. A dying Whitehill soldier will taunt Asher, and he can beat the soldier to death or leave him to die. Beshka will then talk to Asher about how she wishes she could have known Rodrik, and laugh with him about "how much of an ass his little brother can be."

Upon returning to Ironrath, Asher takes up his father's greatsword and his role as Lord of House Forrester. His rule does not last long before Ludd Whitehill arrives with his army.

Whitehill comes up to the gate with Gryff and his general and announces that while he would love to kill every last Forrester, he is also willing to accept surrender. His terms are surprisingly generous. In exchange for surrendering, Ryon's return, and being allowed to live, the Forresters must swear fealty to him and be his bannermen. Asher would wed Gwyn to unite the two houses and Ludd would supervise the Ironwood business.

Given one hour to decide whether to surrender or die, Asher and his council decide to let Ludd think he's won and either ambush or poison him and the stage is set for the White Engagement.

Gwyn talks to Asher shortly before the celebration of the Houses' peace terms and tries to convince him not to do anything rash, as she just wants both their families to live in peace. Afterwards, Duncan or Royland will ask if the attack plan is still on or if it is called off.

If Asher chooses to keep the plan going, the situations differ depending on the method: ambush or poison. If it is an ambush, Asher will give the signal once Ludd is sitting at the head table and the warriors will attack. Gryff will be killed by Asher but Ludd escapes to the outside where he rallies his army, and proceeds to sack Ironrath.

If poison is the method, Talia will pour Ludd his wine at the head table. Ludd will insist Asher drink from the same cup as him to symbolize the union of their houses. Elissa will then cut in and insist on drinking it with Ludd instead. If Asher lets her, both her and Ludd die, but Gryff escapes to the army and proceeds to sack Ironrath. If Asher does not let her, Ludd becomes suspicious and Asher's warriors attack. Ludd escapes to the army, Gryff is killed, and Ironrath is sacked.

If either the ambush or poison plan is called off, Elissa will see that Duncan or Royland is signaling to cancel the plan. She will then get up from the head table abruptly, causing Ludd to be suspicious. Asher then gets up to reason with his mother, but Elissa insists he is allowing their house to be destroyed by cooperating with Ludd's peace terms and will then pull out a knife and attack Ludd. This causes the battle between both the Whitehill and Forrester soldiers to begin. Asher kills Gryff, then a Whitehill soldier stabs him, but Gwyn kills the man. She remains frozen, in shock over how badly things turned out. Asher pursues Ludd, however he escapes to his army and proceed to sack Ironrath.

Near the end of the battle, Asher is grievously wounded and his Sentinel, either Duncan or Royland, will put him on a horse and have him ride to safety. If the traitor was allowed to live by Rodrik, Talia will free the traitor and both of them find Asher. If the traitor was executed, it will be the Sentinel who finds Asher with Talia, or potentially Gwyn if Asher abandoned the plan.

Asher is described by most of his family as aggressive, impulsive, passionate and charming. But despite his reputation, Asher is very good at thinking on his feet and is very resourceful. Asher's hot-headed temperament aside, his uncle Malcolm felt that Asher has always been meant to lead men in battle. He is also quite the ladies man and a very skilled warrior, as he (with Beskha's aid) defeated a large number of Lost Legion soldiers, using his sword, axe, and unarmed combat. Asher is also shown to be humorous and light-minded even in most intense and serious positions.

Asher also has a strong bond with Beskha, with her even referring to Asher as "little brother". Asher also became determined to return home once he learned of his father's and brother's murder, promising to kill Ramsay Snow.

"He's a skilled fighter. But what's more, he has the will to fight. A hunger for it... Do you remember the miller's boy? How he tormented you... I wanted to intervene, but you father said 'Ethan must fight his own battles.' But when Asher saw it, he didn't take a breath. He grabbed the miller's boy by the neck. That was his first instinct. Asher knocked out half the boy's teeth. Of course your father was furious, but you were in danger and there was nothing else Asher needed to know. Asher does not hesitate. He acts. And we need that."